Fiona Mathews

Bats face a dizzying array of threats, ranging from climate change to being entombed by housing insulation. Spent a busy few days in Bonn with the Eurobats Advisory Committee highlighting issues and identifying solutions. 🦇🌍🦤

Don't buy 'curiosities' made of dead bats!
Online stores including Amazon and Google shop are still openly selling these items, a year after we highlighted the problem. Trade in Endangered species needs to stop. #wildlife #bats #nature 🌍
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In memory of the Christmas Island shrew It never weighed more than a spoonful of sugar. Five or six grams of life, soft-furred and sharp-nosed, darting among the roots and leaf litter of a tiny island in the Indian Ocean. At night, its voic...

RIP the Christmas Island Shrew. Now declared extinct.
news.mongabay.com/2025/10/in-m... @mammalbiology.bsky.social @mammalconeurope.bsky.social @mammalsociety.bsky.social

UK campaigners launch bill to give nature legal rights Private member’s bill backed by Chris Packham and Natalie Bennett would impose a duty of care on government and business

Proposal for Rights of Nature to be protected in UK www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It looks like a pipistrelle from the photo. Hard to tell the species without more photos 🦇

Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon

My best work is interdisciplinary. Utter nonesense from politicians about rip-off degrees neatly summarised here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

UK plastic waste exports to developing countries rose 84% in a year, data shows Campaigners say increase in exports mostly to Malaysia and Indonesia is ‘unethical and irresponsible waste imperialism’

Shame on us!
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ecuador revokes environmental license for Canada's DPM to develop gold project - Canada News Beep By Alexandra Valencia

Ecuador revokes environmental license for Canada’s DPM to develop gold project

https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/189815/

By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador’s government has revoked the environmental license granted to Canadian mining company DPM…

The Waorani people of Ecuador won a historic court case blocking oil companies from entering 180,000 hectares of their ancestral land in Pastaza. The ruling, upheld on appeal, set a precedent for indigenous free, prior, and informed consent.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waorani...

A few more mushrooms. Autumn is here! 🍂🍄#mushroom #fungi

Mega-mushroom. That's supper sorted! #mushrooms

LISTEN: At the upcoming #IUCNcongress, we are supporting a motion to address the international pet trade in terrestrial wildlife.

The scale of the trade is huge, says WCS’s Dr. Elizabeth Bennett.

🌍 On #WCSWildAudio, how this action could help address it: apple.co/46qZa82

Beaver bombing. Good or bad? And what about those pesky wild boar? What do you think? www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Ops-Be...

If you want to email with your contact details I am happy to collect

Sometimes. Esp. On Daubenton's

Was very happy ro catch this lovely barbastelle bat last night. The species is rare across Europe and is usually found in ancient woodland. This one's roost is in a tiny remnant patch that clings on next to a conifer plantation. She was nice and fat ready for winter!

Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms Exclusive: Leachate is tankered to treatment works where it mixes with sewage and industrial effluent

It keeps getting worse! We have already shown that agricultural fields treated with sewage sludge have high rates of microplastic contamination. Now it seems that potentially toxic liquid from landfill is added to the mix. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Burning banned on England’s deep peat to protect wildlife Ban on burning heather and grass on deep peat extended to improve air quality for local communities, reduce flood risk and protect wildlife.

Fantastic news for British wildlife and the climate 🌎🦤: a ban on burning deep peatlands (>30cm). This terrible practice is used to manage moors for grouse shooting. Comes into force on 30th Sept, a day ahead of new burning season. 👏 @defra.gov.uk www.gov.uk/government/n...

Can giant otters be indicators of ecosystem health?

This new Report in #EnvironmentalConservation evaluates mercury concentrations in these apex predators, suggesting the impact of contamination in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#conservationscience🌍 #otters 🦦

Sewage isn't the only problem for water pollution! Farming practice is a huge contributor. Who thinks it's a good plan to spray slurry here (an old canal draining straight into a wetland) during heavy rain? I keep my mouth shut when I swim! @eea.europa.eu @theriverstrust.bsky.social #waterpollution

A very cool project that could help tackle a global problem for amphibians.

Three more giraffe species than previously thought, scientists say Giraffes have always been thought to be one species, but scientists now say there are four.

"The more precisely we understand giraffe taxonomy, the better equipped we are to assess their status and implement effective conservation strategies," said co-author of the report Michael Brown of the IUCN.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

A close-up image of a dugong holding a flipper to its mouth

Over a third of marine mammals, like dugongs, are threatened according to the @ipbes.net #GlobalAssessment.🌏🧪

Dugongs, known for their vital role in maintaining seagrass ecosystems, are at risk due to habitat loss, fishing & climate impacts.

Conservation is essential for healthy marine ecosystems.

The rubber was just for size 🤣

What a difference a week makes! This bat came in covered in glue, dust and cobwebs. The fluffball has just been released back to her colony. 🦇🦇 @batcon.org #bats #wildlife #nature

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!

We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.

Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Study Reveals Carbon Markets Undervalue Shade-Grown Coffee Farms A new Smithsonian study reveals that carbon-capture initiatives may be overlooking a critical tool in sustainable farming programs: mature trees.

Coffee farmers could be utilising land better through recognising standing trees rather than incentivised to plant new trees for carbon capture, whilst agroforestry goes complete monoculture and releases carbon 🌍

#CarbonCredits #CarbonSequestration #Bioeconomies

nationalzoo.si.edu/news/study-r...

Environmental reforms to break planning system gridlock Britain's broken planning and development system is rewired to accelerate infrastructure delivery and homebuilding while safeguarding the environment

The current planning system is indeed clunky. But you need to be out of your mind to choose the paper-shufflers at Defra deliver a swift outcomes-based approach for environmental protection. www.gov.uk/government/n.... @craigbennett3.bsky.social @cieem.bsky.social @batconservation.bsky.social

So many juvenile swallows today! Hope they aren't thinking of leaving Devon just yet. #birds

Dog in a vintage motorbike side-car today. Love it! #dogs #devon